Russia Summons Turkish Attache After Aegean Naval Incident

The Russian Defense Ministry says one of its warships was forced to fire warning shots to avoid a collision with a Turkish ship in the Aegean Sea.

The Defense Ministry said that it had summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident earlier on December 13.

The Interfax news agency said that the Turkish vessel, which the ministry did not name, had failed to respond to earlier warnings but had sharply changed course after shots were fired before passing within 500 meters of the Russian warship.

Relations between Russia and Turkey have plunged since November 24 when a Russian warplane was downed by a Turkish F-16 near the border with Syria, killing one of the pilots.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called the downing of the plane a "stab in the back," has since imposed economic sanctions on Turkey as a retaliatory measure.